Lm. Polyanskaya et al., FATE OF ACTINOMYCETES IN THE INTESTINAL-TRACT OF SOIL INVERTEBRATES FED ON STREPTOMYCETE SPORES, Microbiology, 65(4), 1996, pp. 493-498
Luminescence microscopy was employed to study the dynamics of the leng
th of streptomycete mycelium and the numbers of prokaryotic cells in t
he food substrate, gut, and excrement of the earthworm Eisenia foetida
and the millipede Pachyiulus flavipes fed with streptomycete spores.
Partial digestion of spores was shown to occur in the gut Of earthworm
s and millipedes. Other spores were preserved, germinated, and accumul
ated in the excrement of earthworms and the hindgut of millipedes. In
the gut of earthworms and millipedes fed on the spores of Streptomyces
olivocinereus, an orange glow emitted by the hyphae was revealed, whi
ch was caused by the presence of the antibiotic heliomycin. This is in
dicative of the active development of the mycelium form of actinomycet
es in the gut. When fed with streptomycete spores, earthworms and mill
ipedes displayed certain preferences: the vermicompost earthworm E. fo
etida more actively consumed the spores of Streptomyces caeruleus, whe
reas the millipede P. flavipes preferred the spores of S. olivocinereu
s and S. californicus.